The death of Chinese Catholic Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of Beijing may signal further development is the awkward relations between the Vatican and the Chinese government.

The Vatican has issued a censure against Jon Sobrino, a founding figure of liberation theology – the movement which argues that the church should be on the side of the poor and downtrodden

Both the Vatican and the UK government have declared themselves pleased with the private audience that UK Chancellor Gordon Brown enjoyed with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome last week.

A bishop in Paraguay has been suspended by the Vatican after he declared his intention to run as a presidential candidate in the country's 2008 elections.

Human rights, religious and civic political activists are stepping up the global campaign for the abolition of the death penalty, in the wake of overwhelming worldwide criticism of the manner and impact of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's execution.

Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, has highlighted the links between human rights and human reconciliation in his 2007 New Year message, delivered at St Peter's Rome.

The Vatican has indicated that, at present, it will not be signing a new, widely-heralded international treaty to protect the rights and dignity of people living with disabilities.

Roman Catholic nuns in Poland who mounted an occupation of their convent in a protest against the appointment of a new mother superior are refusing to leave the building, despite being expelled from their order by the Vatican - writes Jonathan Luxmoore for Ecumenical News International.

The Vatican has issued a strong statement against the episcopal ordination of Fr John Wang Renlei on 30 November 2006, at Xuzhou in the province of Jiangsu, China.